-tuaan

After Doing (-tuaan)

Level 4

The -tuaan/-tyään construction replaces a 'kun' (when/after) clause to describe an action that was completed before the main action. It is primarily used in formal writing.

How It Works

The temporal construction ending in -tuaan/-tyään is a lauseenvastike (clause equivalent). It allows a writer to condense a subordinate clause into a single word.

1. Formation:
To form this, take the passive past participle of the verb, add the partitive ending, and then the appropriate possessive suffix.

  • syödä (to eat) → syöty (passive participle) → syötyä- (partitive stem) → syötyään (after eating)

2. Same Subject Rule:
If the subject of the 'after' action is the same as the main clause subject, you must use a possessive suffix. The 3rd person suffix -an/-än is the most common.

  • Syötyäni lähdin. (After I ate, I left.)

3. Different Subject Rule:
If the subject of the 'after' action is different from the main clause subject, the subject of the construction is put in the genitive case, and no possessive suffix is added to the verb.

  • Sateen lakattua menimme ulos. (After the rain stopped, we went out.)

4. The Comma Rule:
Unlike full clauses starting with kun, these shortened constructions are never separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.

  • Kun hän oli syönyt, hän lähti. (Comma used)
  • Syötyään hän lähti. (No comma used)

5. Register:
This construction is a hallmark of kirjakieli (standard written Finnish). In spoken Finnish, people almost always use the word kun instead.

Examples (4)

  1. Herättyään hän kävi heti suihkussa.

    After waking up, he immediately took a shower.

    Word by Word: Having-been-woken-up-his he went immediately in-shower.

    Replaces the clause 'Kun hän oli herännyt'. The suffix -än matches the third-person subject.

  2. Sateen lakattua lapset menivät ulos.

    After the rain stopped, the children went outside.

    Word by Word: Rain's having-been-stopped children went out.

    This is a different-subject construction. The subject 'sade' (rain) is in the genitive case, and no possessive suffix is used.

  3. Todettuaan virheen komitea päätti muuttaa sääntöä.

    Having noted the error, the committee decided to amend the rule.

    Word by Word: Having-been-noted-its error committee decided to-change rule.

    This is a typical formal sentence structure found in administrative or news contexts.

  4. Saavuttuamme hotellille menimme heti nukkumaan.

    After we arrived at the hotel, we went straight to sleep.

    Word by Word: Having-been-arrived-our to-hotel we-went immediately to-sleep.

    Here the suffix -mme is used because the subject is 'we' (me).

Common Mistakes

  • Using a comma to separate the construction from the main clause.

    Syötyään, hän lähti.
    Syötyään hän lähti.

    Finnish clause equivalents (lauseenvastikkeet) are normally not separated by a comma, unlike the kun clauses they replace.

  • Forgetting the possessive suffix when the subject is the same.

    Syötyä hän lähti.
    Syötyään hän lähti.

    If the subject of the participle is the same as the main verb, a possessive suffix is mandatory in formal writing.

  • Confusing it with the simultaneous '-essa' construction.

    Syödessään hän lähti.
    Syötyään hän lähti.

    'Syödessään' means 'while eating' (simultaneous), whereas 'syötyään' means 'after eating' (sequential).

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

-tuaanLevel 4After Doing (-tuaan)

Learn This First

The -tuaan temporal construction (the 'past infinitive') is formed by taking the past passive participle stem and adding the partitive ending plus a possessive suffix. To understand this, you must be familiar with how to form passive participles and how possessive suffixes function as subject markers in contracted clauses.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.